I'm Diego Sebastian
I'm a manga-inspired artist hailing from the far south east Asian archipelago of the Philippines born with deep roots in Asian cultures and occult themes.
To eliminate any of the confusion, "Sebastian Reid" is actually my second and middle name; I've been going about life with the name Diego Lopez. Some of you may know me with this moniker. "We" are one and the same person.
Sebastian Reid is also where I derived "Sebre" from: Seb + Re, but pronounced as "saber" (or sabre, if you're fancy).
In the Beginning...
Naturally drawn to illustration since the age of 3, I grew to love drawing throughout my life. Being the son of very creative parents, it was only a matter of time before I ended up doing something with the hobby I loved.
In 1995, my stepdad introduced me to video games. This augmented my view of art and one day wanted to be involved with both art and video game industries.
With a formal education in Game Art and a persistent love in illustration, I bring you my work that has spanned years in the making.
Services
Spoiler Alert!
This next section will cover my journey from a more detailed perspective, thus being extremely long.
Not for the faint of heart; tread at your own pace!
My Mission...
My goal is to be able to gain experience and credibility in the industry to be able to tell the dedicated newcomers that they can do it.
This is my mission.
Our current world lives within the confines of many professionals discouraging the new blood. Yes, it may be a naive outlook to be the outcast, but I’m a firm believer by personal experience that hard work pays off if you let us do the work. You may not get your dreams fulfilled this weekend, but in time, you can.
Artwork is very subjective. Someone will love your work, while others have nothing good to say. The worst is when you’re not heard at all. What’s important is that you believe in yourself; you have to do this for you and believe that God gave you a gift to nurture. Whether it’s the persistence to keep at it or a natural talent for the creative: nurture it. I thank Him for giving me a loving wife who supports me whichever direction the wind blows.
The Dream...
Being a creative (plump) little boy from the metropolitan capital of the Philippines, I grew up loving anime and manga. I learned to love Japanese culture. I was engrossed in cultural horror tropes and the supernatural. At the age of three, I picked up some crayons and made my mom a nice little stick figure drawing telling her that she was the best mom ever (she still is). Since then, I’ve always kept my art close to my heart. At the age of five, I learned about video games. My step-father bought me a PlayStation. Since then, it’s only been a massive snowball effect. To this day, somehow video games and creativity are always hand in hand in my life.
I’ve put so much time in creating and envisioning ideas. Sadly, numerous hurdles have come my way throughout the years. Moving to a new home and immigrating to America at the age of fourteen, a lot of my work was lost in between (not that I cared to keep them at the time). High school allowed me to bloom, just to be nipped by the cold college days when I deviated away into nursing school for other people’s definition of “practical”.
One miraculous phone call years later brought me back into art. I decided to lay it all down and take back up what I loved to do. With the undying support of my long distance father, I am now blessed with formal education from one of the most renowned creative universities in America. I'm ready to retrace my steps and embrace what I love most about art: expressing who I am.
Here I am learning every single day. And I want to share this with you all. My journal will have my experiences in video games and the crafts. My portfolio will host a plethora of my work for everyone to consume.
One day I will create my own world and use it for my own manga, campaigns in Dungeons & Dragons, or in my very own video games. I dream to do voice acting one day and bring life to characters and one day, I can be experienced enough to tell you that you’ll be fine if you nurture your gifts. Never stop learning. Never stop doing what you love.
Let’s keep learning. Together.
The Reality...
Created with part of its founder’s name (Sebastian Reid is legit my middle name!), Sébre Studio was born from the ashes of a group blog project, tnhUnity.
In 2016, a group of ten notable human beings that shared a like-mindedness for video games and a variety of genre breaking interests, a blog was formed. Initially as a joke, it was named, TNH-Unity: “Tentative Name Here”.
Its maiden voyage promised unbiased reviews of all new video game releases. The idea was to share thoughts on games they spent their own time and money on. Noble, yes. Although, the work was overbearing and the group couldn’t discipline itself to complete games within a time frame, which led to immediate burnouts.
In its second year, three people were left, and the purpose of the blog had to be redefined. This time, to cover current event news in the gaming industry. Conventions were experienced and announcements were covered, but this quickly became a discouraging job. Other successful mainstream media outlets cover this with actual wages, so why compete?
Again, the unity was in shambles.
With one person left behind to man the sails, a brilliant idea came to fruition: journaling. The last years of tnhUnity became the outlet of Sebastian to really spend some thought into games he curated and learned from them. He aspired to become a professional artist with a background in manga and video games, so he spent time to actually study them.
This was going smoothly until he decided to bring his game to the big leagues. No more default themes and undecided business names.
Bringing in over seven years of stumbling in the dark and four years of hardcore learning onto the table, Sébre Studio was born.
The Promise...
My purpose for this place has multiple layers:
to create a community for learners,
to be of assistance to seekers,
to be an artist for creators,
and to mentor the dreamers.
I plan to keep learning and I hope something here helps you.
We can keep learning.
Together.
Reach out!
For any other inquiries, please send me a message, find me on Instagram/Cara (@sebrestudio) or email me directly at hello@sebrestudio.com!